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Steve Hoffman (audio engineer)

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Steve Hoffman
Born (1951-12-04) December 4, 1951 (age 73)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationMastering engineer
Websitewww.stevehoffman.tv

Steve Hoffman (born December 4, 1951)[1] is an American audio mastering engineer.

Career

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Hoffman was born in Los Angeles in 1951.[1] In the 1970s, he worked in radio before joining MCA Records as catalog research and development coordinator.[citation needed] For the next decade, he was responsible for compiling hundreds of budget cassette releases for MCA's Special Products division, with a focus was on jazz and big band recordings.[citation needed]

In 1984, Hoffman sent copies of several Buddy Holly master recordings to John Pickering of the Picks, the vocal group that had backed Holly on most of his early singles. The Picks overdubbed new vocal parts onto at least 60 recordings and sent them back to Hoffman at MCA, hoping MCA would have issued these "new" recordings as an album. This did not occur, and Hoffman was subsequently fired from MCA, reportedly for the unauthorized lending of the tapes of Pickering.[2] In 1992, Pickering approached Viceroy Records to arrange for distribution of these recordings, but MCA made it clear that Pickering did not have legal clearance to release such recordings.[2]

In 1985, Hoffman worked on a series of releases aimed at the CD market which bore the title "From the Original Master Tapes." This series included works of artists such as Buddy Holly, Bill Haley and John Coltrane. He also plied his trade with the Dunhill Compact Classics and Audio Fidelity labels.[3][4]

Approach

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The adjustments Hoffman makes depend on the quality of the tape source and the equalization choices of the mixing engineer. While he avoids noise reduction, he does add subjective "colorations" through subtractive equalization and up to five layers of vacuum tube distortion.[4][5]

Website

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Hoffman's official website is home to the Steve Hoffman Music Forums, one of the oldest and most popular Internet forums dedicated to music discussion.[6][7] The forum contains discussions regarding gear, record collecting, music production, audio engineering and mastering, and general music discussion.[7] Established in the early 2000s, Steve Hoffman Music Forums had over 55,000 members by 2016.[8][6] The forum's "Music Corner" section is known for its detailed and animated discussions of music releases, including comparisons of different pressings of an album with regard to quality and rarity,[9][6] down to the minutiae of factual errors in liner notes and label copy.[10] Kenneth Womack called it "the longtime home of the most engaging Beatles conversations on the web".[11]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Steve Hoffman". Allmusic. Retrieved January 21, 2024. Born December 4, 1951 in Los Angeles, CA.
  2. ^ a b Rowland, Hobart (December 19, 1996). "Bone to Pick". Houston Press. Archived from the original on December 21, 2014.
  3. ^ In Search of the Holy Hi-Fi Grail JazzTimes, March 2007
  4. ^ a b Hanlon, Keith (August 29, 2011). "Steve Hoffman: Mastering for the Breath of Life". Tape Op. No. 85. Archived from the original on February 11, 2013.
  5. ^ Sreedhar, Suhas (August 1, 2007). "The Future of Music". IEEE Spectrum. IEEE. Archived from the original on January 6, 2008. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  6. ^ a b c Miles, Jenna (2016). The Beginner's Guide to Vinyl: How to Build, Maintain, and Experience a Music Collection in Analog. Adams Media. pp. 190–191. ISBN 9781440598968 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ a b Person, Chris (October 8, 2024). "Forums Are Still Alive, Active, and a Treasure Trove of Information". Aftermath. Archived from the original on December 6, 2024.
  8. ^ Bialczak, Mark (November 21, 2003). "'Whaddya Listenin' To?'". The Post-Standard. Syracuse Newspapers. p. 18. ProQuest 325870217.
  9. ^ Hewitt, Sean (November 23, 2018). "Hewitt: On Friday". Nottingham Evening Post. MGN Ltd. p. 33. ProQuest 2137019783.
  10. ^ McWhirter, Cameron (June 6, 2018). "Clash Over Album Notes Comes Calling". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company: A1. ProQuest 2050326135.
  11. ^ Womack, Kenneth (June 2023). "The Beatles: Get Back". Journal of the American Musicological Society. 76 (2). American Musicological Society: 562 et seq. doi:10.1525/jams.2023.76.2.563. Gale A769305309.

Further reading

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